Life once again
by sandface
Summary: What if you got the chance to bring back all of your lost friends? Naruto has gotten that chance thanks to an odd idea by 8th captain Kyōraku and 13th captain Ukitake. But one person no one knows shows up among the revived ones. Just who is this L person?
1. Chapter 1

It was a normal day in Soul Society. Rows of the dead stood waiting to see where the many Shinigami would place them. One tall man with black hair and a beard stepped forward, since he was next in line. A young looking Shinigami looked up at him, and then wrote something down.

"We have another ninja here, you know where to put him" she said as she pointed to the tall bearded man.

Another Shinigami came and asked for him to follow him. He did as he was told to do. Four people behind the bearded man in line was a young looking boy, barely even twenty years old if even. He slumped forward, and had a lollipop in his mouth from when a little child gave it to him. He watched as different people were taken to different districts; some better than others. Out of all the people in line, the bearded man got taken to the best district out of them all. The young teenager turned to the person behind him, and noticed the person behind him wore a metal headband just as the bearded man did. The teenager pulled the headband of the person, and then being that he was now next in line, was sent to where the bearded man was sent. Many people young and old walked around the nice district that he was now placed in; all wearing the metal headbands.

"I don't remember you" a young child said to him.

The teenager looked at the headband he held, and the ones the others were wearing. He held the same type of headband they all wore.

For an hour straight Naruto had been leaning over Shikamaru's shoulder, trying to read what he held in his hands. Finally Shikamaru could take no more of his harassment, and threw the paper down.

"Could you stop messing with me already? I can't even read half of that paper, and I don't think you'll be able to decode a single thing" Shikamaru yelled.

"Fine then! But I found it so can I at least find out what some of it says? Please?" Naruto begged.

"It was something about making a contract with something... something with an S... but that's the most I can read, the rest seems to be in some other language or something" Shikamaru replied as he handed the paper back to Naruto.

That morning he had found the paper, and since then was trying to find someone who could read it. Naruto thanked him, and left. _Well, at least there's one left to ask_, he thought as he neared the final person he hadn't asked yet. Before Naruto could even see her, Akamaru came and jumped on him. Hinata came running, and pulled Akamaru back some.

"I don't know why Kiba leaves him with me, he knows I can't control him!" she muttered as she helped Naruto up.

"Well at least I found you. I've asked everyone, and no one could read this. Can you?" Naruto asked Hinata as he handed her the paper.

"I don't know how no one could read it. It says 'To bring back the dead you must make a contract with a Shinigami. Within two days of meeting said Shinigami the contract must be signed. Also, once you have signed the contract, you must also give the Shinigami a pound of pocky. You shall meet a Shinigami two seconds after reading this'" Hinata replied as she read the paper.

Just as said, a Shinigami showed up two seconds later. She stood in front of the two in an all black outfit with glasses that shined in the sun. The Shinigami pushed her glasses up some, and then noticed that she was now in an odd new place.

"When I get back they all will pay for this" she muttered under her breath.

Naruto and Hinata merely stared at the Shinigami, and were too afraid to ask her anything. Finally after a minute or so of silence, the Shinigami began to speak. "Two days ago somehow my captain had convinced me to sign some paper. He never would tell me why I was to sign it, and now I see what the reason was. He and one of the other captains came up with a way to have the newly dead ones have life again. But, it requires that someone signs that paper you have in your hand" she explained to them.

"Does it really work?" Naruto asked.

"We haven't tried it yet, but it should work just fine. If you want to bring back any lost friends then sign the paper please" she replied. Her cold purple eyes scared both of them.

Naruto took the paper back her Hinata, but then noticed that he had no pen. The Shinigami sighed, and pulled one out of her pocket and handed it to him. He signed it, and stared at her, unsure of what would happen next.

"Please hand over the paper, and tell me who all you want back from the dead, if it's more than five make a list" she said as she put her hand out for the paper and pen.

Naruto handed them back to her, and then pulled his headband off for some unknown reason. "Everyone you can find that's wearing this, bring them back. If it doesn't look exactly like it then leave them" Naruto said as he handed her the headband.

She nodded, and then vanished into thin air. The two stared at each other for a second, as if in shock to have had any of that happen. And if everything the Shinigami told them was true, then many fallen ninja of Konoha would be alive again. But if that were to happen, the village would be flooded with ninja more than they were already.

In a flash the Shinigami was back at Soul Society, holding both the paper and the headband. The captain she spoke of was sitting out front of what seemed to be his home.

"Someone signed it Nanao-chan?" he asked her in shock.

She nodded, and then replied "We have to hold up to our end of the deal. Everyone wearing one of these metal bands gets to live again. And lately we've seen many with these things; we'll be busy for days on end"

"Ukitake would probably let a few from his division help out. Wait... where's the pocky?!" he asked in panic.

"I knew I forgot something" Nanao replied as she shook her head.


	2. Chapter 2

The morning after Naruto had met the Shinigami, he wondered if it was merely an odd dream. He hadn't seen the Shinigami again the entire day, nor did he see any other Shinigami that he knew of. By night fall, he convinced himself it was just a dream; it was too odd to be real, until Hinata had asked him if the Shinigami came back. Had the two just both had the exact odd dream? Before he could answer her, a black butterfly flew past the two, followed by two more. In an instant, the three black butterflies turned into three Shinigami. The one leading them was the one from before; the other two were unknown to them. The first Shinigami fixed her gaze on the two ninja in front of her.

"It seems you two didn't understand the contract. My captain wants his pocky, and until he gets it, these two behind me will watch you like a hawk" she said in a low growl.

One was a tall female Shinigami with orange blond like long wavy hair and icy blue eyes. She seemed nicer than the first one they met. The second one was shorter, with very short golden brown hair and gray brown eyes. She also seemed nicer than the first one.

"How much pocky did he want again?" Naruto asked as he pulled his frog wallet out.

"A pound of it, and milk flavor not chocolate, he can't stand the chocolate one. I know, he's spoiled like a little kid" she replied as she shook her head.

_Is there even enough milk pocky here to make up a pound?_ Naruto thought as he tried to come up with how much that would even be. The first Shinigami vanished, leaving the other two there with them. The two other Shinigami looked beyond happy to be rid of her.

"Well, might as well not drag this out" Naruto muttered as he walked to the nearest candy store.

"I'll help you carry the pocky" Hinata muttered as she followed him.

The two Shinigami followed them. Both of the Shinigami seemed bored after one minute of being left in the world of the living. By sun raise the tow had managed to find a pound of pocky, even though it took having to go to seven different stores. Both of them were ready to pass out from running around all night long. Within a matter of minutes the first Shinigami showed up again, and without saying a single word took the pocky and vanished again. Though, she left the other Shinigami there for an unknown reason.

"Might as well ask, who are you two?" Naruto asked while still trying to catch his breath from running around all night.

The taller of the two spoke first. "I'm Matsumoto Rangiku, 10th division vice-captain. She's Kiyone, 13th division vice-captain wanna-be" she replied.

Kiyone glared at her for some time after that comment. By the afternoon, six more Shinigami showed up. One kept complaining about something, but the two ninja weren't close enough to hear him that well. One of the eight Shinigami opened a set of doors that was just seemed to be held up by nothing. From time to time one or two of the Shinigami would go thru the doors, but neither of them knew exactly where they had gone.

"Do you truly think the dead will come back because of a bit of pocky?" Hinata asked in her sweet quiet voice.

"I have no clue, but if they do then we better find out quickly who's who or use name tags" Naruto replied.

Around that time Sakura keep walking up to them. She noticed that they were intently staring at something in front of them, but couldn't figure out what it was. The only thing there was a tiny tabby kitten playing with a yarn ball. Sakura watched the kitten for a said, and began to wonder why they were watching the small animal. The most the kitten did was bite on the yarn ball.

"Why are you two just watching a kitty?" she asked.

"What are you talking about? We're waiting for the dead to come back." Naruto replied, not once taking his eyes of the many Shinigami.

"You have to be going insane!" she threw back.

"You can't see them?" Hinata asked as she pointed to the Shinigami. One of them, a short black hair purple eyed girl looked up, and then began discussing something with a tall orange haired guy.

"I don't see a thing. What did you guys eat last night? Because whatever it was is making you see things" Sakura replied before leaving.

Neither had any clue that she couldn't see what they could see. She had not read, or signed the piece of paper from before, so to her, they were just going insane. One of the Shinigami, a young white haired teal eyed guy walked up to the two. He also wore a solid black outfit, only he also had a white jacket over it with the number '10' on the back in Japanese. He held up a piece of paper and stared at it for a second.

"We located everyone you asked for, but that does you no good, no one will be able to see them, only you two will be able to. We need their bodies if you can get them. If you can't we'll try to get a gigai for them, thought it will take some time" he said a in a deep low voice that didn't seem normal for someone his age.

"Ready to go dig up bones?" Naruto asked as he stood up and looked like he was ready to fall asleep.

Hinata only nodded and followed him as he walked away. The young Shinigami tossed the piece of paper in the air and then went back to the group. _I don't get paid enough to be in all these short stories along with the manga and anime_, he thought as he sat on a nearby rock.

Back in Soul Society, the many dead ninja lined up, waiting to go back home. The teenager from before who took the headband off another ninja was among them. He had no idea of what was going to happen next. Nanao walked alongside the neatly lined up ninja. She was writing down each of their names, along with the date of their death just for records. Her captain walked on the other side of the group along with his friend Ukitake.

"I didn't know it was possible to find that much pocky. But why did you ask for pocky?" Ukitake asked with a mouth full of pocky.

"I was out of it at the time" Kyōraku, Nanao's captain replied to him, also with a mouth full of pocky.


	3. Chapter 3

The two ninja had their work cut out for them. Both had a shovel in their hands, and were digging up the graves of the past ninja. They knew most would be nothing but a pile of bones, which did them no good. After the young Shinigami had told them to get the bodies, Naruto asked Matsumoto if just getting the bones would work, and she had told him is needed to be their body, not bones.

"Are you sure it's late enough for people not to come out here?" Hinata asked.

"Who'd come out here this late?! It's almost midnight" Naruto replied. It had taken them six hours just to get two dug up, and they still had many more to go.

Not long after Naruto said that, someone came walking up very slowly. It seemed that they were having a bit of trouble walking, but was very quiet, to the point that neither of them heard the person until they were almost right next to them.

"Naruto... Hinata... what are you two doing here so late?" Kurenai asked.

Both of them tensed up at the sound of her voice. They knew exactly why she was there, and also knew it would be extremely hard to explain to her their reason. Any other person might have believed them, and even helped them, but they knew for a fact she wouldn't for one second. The two glanced at each other for a second, trying to come up with a reason.

"We were just... cleaning the tomb stones!" Hinata said quickly. You could easily that it was a lie, since she couldn't lie for her life.

"Then why do you two have shovels?" Kurenai asked.

Neither knew what to reply to her. To make it worse, the only other person left that had died very resent was Asuma, and they knew that if Kurenai knew what they were doing, she would insane. Naruto very slowly looked up her. Both he and Hinata had stopped for a short break, and the place around there to sit on was the ground itself. He could barely even she her face, since from his angle, all he could see was her massive belly.

"Well?" she added.

"We were digging up the weeds around the graves as well" Naruto replied. Neither of them sounded convincing at all.

Luckily for them, she believed them, and left without another word. By sun raise, they had finished digging up as many as possible, and were then trying to figure out how to get them to the Shinigami. Before an idea past threw either of their minds, the young Shinigami found earlier showed up.

"Is this it?" he asked. It was only a couple, but it was all they knew would be more than a bone or two. "We'll come up with something, but we'll be busy for the next hundred years at this rate" he muttered.

"Hey, you guys said that once we got the pocky and signed the paper we got our friends back, well come when are they gonna come back?!" Naruto growled at him.

The Shinigami turned around slowly, and replied "I myself don't know, but soon I guess, I can ask but that's all I can do"

No one said a thing after that, since there was nothing to say. After twenty minutes the same Shinigami came back, hopefully with an answer for them, if not, their work might have been for nothing than a joke.

"They said in two days time you'll get them back, so get some rest and take a shower, you both smell like a dead animal" he said.

"Two days huh? Well, better than two years I guess" Naruto said under his breath after the Shinigami had left.

Meanwhile, as the many Shinigami trying to get this job done in the two days time, they had a slight problem. They had gotten everyone's name, all but one. He only would give a letter for his name, and no one could understand why that was.

"Your name can't be just a letter! Now give me your name!!" one of them yelled.

"I've told you many times before, my name is L" he replied. It was the teenager who had first taken the headband from someone else.

"You're L?! You're the world's greatest detective!" someone yelled.

"I was... but not anymore" he said in a slightly sad tone.

"If I get your name, you can be brought to life" the Shinigami said, hoping to get somewhere.

"Again, my name is L" he replied.

Back in the world of the living, after taking the young Shinigami's advice, Naruto and Hinata waited where the many Shinigami had once been working. They still had no clue as to what the Shinigami were doing the other day, but were also a bit too scared to ask them. Out of nowhere, those same doors came back, and opened. The first to walk threw them was the first Shinigami they had met, which they now knew as Nanao. The next one was Matsumoto, then Kiyone, then the young one with the white jacket, and then finally a short girl with black hair, and purple eyes. They had never gotten the name of the young Shinigami and had only once before seen the black haired one. Not long after they came thru, tons of ninja followed them, and this time, the people who were just walking by, could see them, not just Naruto and Hinata. But, among the many ninja, was one neither knew. The one that called himself 'L'.


	4. Chapter 4

Both of them could only stare in amazement at the sight of this all. Soon almost the whole village was around the area that everyone was at. Most of the people ran up to their once deceased loved ones, while others were only there to see what was going on.

"Naruto-kun, that man over there looks just like you" Hinata said as she pointed out someone.

"Where I don't see him?" Naruto asked as he tried to lean to see around a big group in front of him.

"Right there!" she replied, this time flat out pointing to someone.

Finally the group in front of him moved, revealing the man Hinata had pointed to. He was a bit taller than Naruto, with blond hair and blues eyes. Next to him a woman with red hair stood out of the crowd of people. No one else in the group looked a thing like that couple. The red haired woman looked around for a second and then ran straight up to Naruto as if she knew him from somewhere. She looked him up and down for a minute, and then turned back to the man that was next to her.

"Minato!! Get over here, it's him!!!" she yelled loud enough for the entire village to hear.

The man she called Minato came running up to her, and then acted just as strange as she did. Naruto had zero clue as to who they were, and also was getting a bit scared of them. Hinata was also slightly scared of them, and slinked slowly away from the three.

"Is your name Naruto?" Minato asked.

Naruto wondered if he should reply or not, but then finally muttered "Yes... why do you want to know?"

"What? Did you really think he'd remember us? Come on he saw us for all of five minutes, and then that stupid fox thingy attacks everything" the woman growled as she shook her head.

Naruto jumped back from the two and asked "Who the heck are you two, and what are you talking about?!"

"Rather than go insane Kushina, you could have told him who we were, since sadly your right, he doesn't remember us at all. Sorry about her going insane, she does that, but we're your parents... you don't believe me do you?" Minato replied as Naruto tried to look for a chance to run.

Naruto only stared at the two in front of him. Hinata waved her hand in front of him, hoping it would snap him out of whatever trance he was in. After a second he snapped out of it, and then passed out. Hinata stared at him for a minute, and then tried to drag him out of the way of the many other people around them. The other two followed her.

"Does he always do that?" Kushina asked.

"Normally it's me who passes out, but it seems my personality has rubbed off on him" Hinata replied as she tried to pull him onto a bench, and was failing.

Minato helped her, and then said "You tow must be around each a lot if that's happening"

"I've been slightly stuck with him for the last couple of days since we've the two who helped bring you two back to life" she replied. _Since when do I talk this much?_ Hinata thought, since Naruto's personality must be rubbing off on her too.

After a couple of hours Naruto woke back up. He tried to sit up, but Hinata had fallen asleep on him. It's was already dark out, and the many people who were in that one area had gone. Most would have families to return to, while others probably found a nearby hotel to stay at until everything was sorted out. Nanao walked up slowly to the two ninja who seemed to be sleeping on the old bench. Once she was a bit closer, she could see only one was asleep.

"Despite what you might think, the two who you were talking to earlier were your parents. When we originally were moving them to their district, the red haired one was in tears, since she knew she would never she her new born baby again. She also mentioned a name, your name" Nanao said in her cold voice.

"If that was the case why would no one tell me who my parents were?" Naruto asked in a slight growl.

"I don't know how things work around here, so don't ask me, ask the person in charge, if anyone would give you an answer it would be them" Nanao replied before disappearing into the night.

_Why do people keep so many secrets from me? _Naruto wondered as he slowly tried to slide Hinata off of him. The following morning everything seemed as if it were back to its original normal. So many people who use to never smile had a smile on their face after being around their once lost friends and family. For the first time in many years Naruto's sensei Kakashi wasn't standing in front of graves for hours on end; he had his old friends back. For the first time Sai didn't have a cold distant look in his face; he had his older brother back. For the first time in months Kurenai was happily walking along side Asuma. He hardly recognized her, being that last time he saw her she was much thinner, and not about to pop at any moment. Only one person had to place in this picture. The teenager, who called himself 'L', sat alone with a lollipop in his sugar covered mouth. Not a single person knew who he was, and anyone who asked his name was only given that single letter.

"He looks to lonely" Hinata said.

"I really don't know how he got mixed in with everyone else, he's obliviously not a ninja, and not a single person knows him" Naruto replied.

"Maybe he's from another village or something. Go ask him, it's odd seeing only one person so sad and alone like that" Hinata suggested.

Naruto sighed, and then went up to the odd person. From far away no one could smell the strong scent of sweets on him. L turned his head a bit, so that he was facing the ninja behind him.

"Hello" L said in a nice tone.

"You're not from around here, are you?" Naruto asked as nice as possible.

"No, I actually have no clue where I am. A few days ago I pulled a headband like the one you're wearing off someone, and then somehow I end up here. I'm suppose to be dead, but it seems whatever those people in black did reversed that" L replied, still sucking on his lollipop.

"Those are Shinigami I think... yeah that's right Shinigami" Naruto muttered.

L all but jumped six feet in the air at the word 'Shinigami'. Something about that word must mean something to him, but only her himself knew the meaning. A couple of seconds later he calmed down.

"Well... since you're about the only person here who has no place, I guess we could try to find one for you here, there has to be something you're good at other than eating sweets" Naruto said in a laugh.

"We?" L asked.

"Me and the girl over there, don't worry we don't bite" he replied in another laugh.

L took him up on his offer, and within two hours he fit in with the rest. He was good at solving crimes, and not long ago a few odd crimes took place in Konoha and other villages. It took him two minutes to solve every last case they had, including some that were so old no one thought they could be solved. It now seemed that everything was going good. Even after a couple of hours Naruto got to know his parents better, and finally he had a family like everyone else.

Meanwhile in Soul Society, not everything was as nice as it was for the ninja. Captain Yamamoto had called captain Kyōraku, Ukitake, Hitsugaya, the young Shinigami from before, and Kurotsuchi. Each one was slightly nervous as to why they were the only ones called to this meeting.

"Kyōraku and Ukitake, you both came up with some plan that involved Kurotsuchi, that much I know, but how did Hitsugaya get mixed into this mess?" Yamamoto asked.

"They were short handed in their plan, so I and Matsumoto helped them some, can I go now?" Hitsugaya replied. Yamamoto nodded, and in seconds Hitsugaya was gone.

"Now then, how exactly did you two come up with this plan, and how did you Kurotsuchi, come up with a way for it to work?" Yamamoto asked, this time more puzzled than anything.

After an hour of explaining in ways that only he could understand, the slightly creepy captain was allowed to leave, since he was only commissioned for the job. That only left the ones in charge of the whole plan.

"You both know what you did was wrong. You're thrown off the balance of the dead and living, for now the most we can do is return the souls here. Send out a few from each of your divisions to collect them before anymore problems start" Yamamoto said in a growl.

The two didn't question him, and did as he said. Both knew that the many ninja that were finally smiling would again be sad and lost.

"Your personality keeps rubbing off on him, if we hand cuffed you two together, Naru-kun there might be quieter!" Minato laughed.

"No, she'd be as loud and strange as he is!" Kushina threw back. The tow had been trying to find a way to make Naruto a bit quieter, since he had been nothing but a hyper ball of energy the whole.

"We could try it" Hinata said, hoping not many could hear her.

"You'd enjoy be hand cuffed too much" Naruto muttered. To many she seemed the sweet quiet person, but he knew better than anyone else.

The entire day the four had been wandering around from place to place for no reason really at all. Over and over Minato and Kushina told Naruto to try to keep Hinata around, and each time they told him that he never could understand why they said it. Out of nowhere Nanao appeared, and for the first time, had a very sad look over her normally cold face.

"I hate to tell you this, but everyone has to go back. You have four hours to say your goodbyes, everyone's memory will be erased, all but you two though" Nanao said, and for a second sounded as if she was about to cry. After that she vanished.

None of them could say a single thing after that. After so many years everyone was back, no more tears, nothing, but now, it going to go back to how it always was. Once the four hours was up they managed to collect everyone, including L. Not one person wanted them to leave, but they had no say in the matter.

"Try not to forget us, ok?" Kushina said with a sad tone in her voice and tears in her green eyes.

"I won't forget you guys for a second, I promise" Naruto replied. He tried to hold back the tears, but was slowly losing the battle.

In a flash, they were gone, and not a single person knew why they were standing out in the cold. Just as Nanao said, the only ones who remembered what happened were Naruto and Hinata, not one person more or less. _It'll be so much quieter now_, Hinata thought as she walked home in the cold. _I just had gotten use to having them around, _Naruto thought as he stood beside her. _But everything must come to a close, _both of them thought at the same time.

End.

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I do not own Naruto, Bleach or Death Note in any form. Thank you for reading my story!


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